Notes and Essays -- John Brown

  Children’s Books Eleven-year-old Genya plays the pretending game as she crams for an art school entrance exam in Chernobyl’s wake. This color illustration shows an adolescent girl sitting at a table and drawing. She wears her brown hair in bangs cut straight across her forehead and one long braid. Her head is cocked to the side, her blue eyes are wide open and cast upward as if imagining what to draw, and one of her bare feet is on the table, holding down a corner of the drawing paper. Credit...Yevgenia Nayberg By Elena Gorokhova Elena Gorokhova is the author of two memoirs — “A Mountain of Crumbs” and “Russian Tattoo” — and the novel “A Train to Moscow.” May 1, 2026 CHERNOBYL, LIFE, AND OTHER DISASTERS, by Yevgenia Nayberg “You have to share many things with others … but what you remember belongs to you and you alone,” Yevgenia (Genya) Nayberg writes in the author’s note to her graphic memoir, “Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters.” The elegantly composed pages of this mo...

 from Quora Digest Ka Pi  ·  Follow   psychologist by education, has BPD Updated  12 things not to do when visiting  Poland : Don't be too loud, unless you're dying to make everyone know you're a tourist.  Don't ask people how much they make. Don't brag about how much you make. If asked about an expensive thing you own, choose between two strategies: say it's worse than it seems, or brag about how  little  you paid for it - it was such an amazing bargain! Don't wear a swastika or any other Nazi symbols. Don't drink in public places - it's illegal and you may end up paying a fine. Don't burp, slurp or talk with your mouth full. When visiting someone at home, don't keep your shoes on, don't refuse to eat when offered food, and don't ask for a tour around the house. Don't give overly expensive gifts unless it's a wedding gift. Polish people will be embarrassed and they won't accept them. Don't comment on anyone's acce...

[summary] Russian air defences intercepted around 600 Ukrainian drones in a massive overnight attack that killed four people. The interceptions took place across Russia's 14 regions, as well as the annexed Crimean peninsula. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said the attack was a "justified" response to Russia's prolongation of the ‌war. Issued on: 17/05/2026 - 08:01 Modified: 17/05/2026 - 11:47 2 min Reading time; see also By: FRANCE 24 A soldier of Ukraine's 127th Separate Territorial Brigade launches a drone on the front line in the Kharkiv region on March 14, 2026.  © Nikoletta Stoyanova, AP A huge wave of around 600 Ukrainian  drones  attacked  Russia overnight, killing four people, authorities said on Sunday. Air defences shot down drones in more than a dozen regions, including Moscow, Russia's defence ministry said, in one of the largest Ukrainian barrages of the ongoing conflict so far. These interceptions – far above the few dozen mor...

11 HR ago By   Jennifer Hansler , CNN Politics Rescue workers search through the rubble of a residential building in Tehran, following US-Israeli airstrikes on March 27.   Majid Saeedi/Getty Images Amid ongoing foreign policy crises around the globe and as the Trump administration struggles to reach a deal to end the war with Iran, the State Department last week finalized the firings of nearly 250 foreign service officers in a brief, impersonal email. “Your reduction in force separation will be effective today,” part of it read. “Thank you again for your service to the Department.” Those reductions in force (RIFs), which were initiated last July, also impacted more than 1,000 civil service officers, and saw the firings of entire staffs in offices that former officials say would have been able to provide guidance on the war in Iran, which is having severe consequences for the US and global economy. The State Department has consistently maintained that the RIFs were meant ...